Light
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Spoilers for "I Want to Believe." They can't hide from darkness.


_Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
Author's Note: Anyone who didn't like the movie should be checked for a pulse. This is my first attempt at X-Files fiction though I've been reading it for years. As soon as I heard Mulder's last line in the movie this idea popped into my head.  
_

**Light**

He knew from the way she pushed open the gate that something bad had happened. There was a weariness in her movements that hadn't been there when she'd left that morning. He watched from the window as she drove up to the house. He saw in the backseat a box of her things from the hospital. When she got out of the car and looked up at him standing on the porch, he knew.

They'd been partners for sixteen years and lovers for six of them, well seven if you counted the year he spent in New Mexico. He knew her completely. So she didn't have to tell him that an unexpected blood clot had ended Christian's life. Didn't have to tell him that the boy's parents blamed her. Didn't have to tell him that she blamed herself. He knew.

Leaving her things in the car she slowly climbed the stairs and walked until her forehead touched his chest. He wrapped her in his arms and held on as tightly and he knew she wanted him to. They stood like that until she pulled away. She didn't have to tell him what she needed. Mulder took her hand and led her to the bedroom. Once she was seated on the bed he went to the adjoining bathroom and filled the tub. Then he helped her take off her clothes, a moment that held more intimacy than sex, and helped her into the bath.

While she soaked, he packed four suitcases with clothing and other essentials. He sorted through the papers in his office and pulled out all the important documents for both of them. He went to the basement and turned off the water heater and furnace, it would stay warm enough for the rest of the night. By the time he was done, Scully was out of the tub and wrapped up in his terrycloth robe. She looked at the packed bags and raised an eyebrow at him.

Mulder shrugged. "From what I understand, you don't need a passport to go to Puerto Rico."

Scully gave him a half smile. "Sounds great."

Mulder walked towards her and put a hand to her face. "You don't have to tell me," he said. "But I'll listen if you want to."

Scully shook her head. "Let's just get out of here. You and me."

"We'll go tomorrow," he replied.

She nodded and they moved to the bed. Still in his robe, she crawled under the covers and settled herself against his chest. They rarely held each other in sleep, but sometimes when the outside world got to be too much, one or both of them would seek solace in the arms of the other. Mulder stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.

"I realized something after you left," he said, his lips moving against her temple. "I told you at the hospital that I was fine. I wasn't lying Scully. Even with everything that had happened I felt so different than I had years ago doing the same thing. It was like, I knew the darkness was there, but I could see through it anyway. But then you said you weren't coming home and everything was covered in black. It became just like before. And I realized this morning that the variable is you."

Scully closed her eyes. "I should never have said that," she told him. "It wasn't right."

"I understand why you did. But there's something you have to understand. I realized that all the times over the years when I've felt myself start to slip into the darkness. Every time was a moment where we weren't together, when something stood between us. I realized that I don't have to be afraid anymore. With you, I don't think the darkness can ever overtake me. You're my light Scully. You always have been. Ever since that night sixteen years ago when you trusted me enough to take off your robe in that hotel room."

Scully could feel the tears falling down her face at Mulder's heartfelt words. He brushed them away with his thumb and kissed her softly. "You told me my stubbornness was the reason you fell in love with me."

Scully chuckled. "Well it was one of the reasons."

Mulder smiled and reached in the darkness of their room for her hand. When he found it he linked their fingers together and kissed her knuckles. "We can't escape the darkness Scully. When we leave tomorrow it'll follow us. And we'll always be looking over our shoulders at shadows, or waiting for the world to end, or praying that somehow William comes back to us. But it can't get us. It can't consume us. Because as long as I am able to see, I'll never let you slip into the dark. And as long as you're with me I can see. You're my light."

Scully choked back a sob and leaned her forehead against his. Somehow, in everything they'd been through, this was the position where she felt the safest. It was in feeling the lines of his brow against her own that she drew her greatest strength. She knew what he said was true. Flashing back onto a somewhat similar conversation years before she just whispered, "And you are mine."

They fell asleep with their foreheads still touching. And the morning dawned as brightly as ever.

The End

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